Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Filed in Common Core State Standards by Joy Pullman on November 13, 2013 • 0 Comments

Common Core architect and College Board President David Coleman recently joined a public forum to discuss “the next America.” His eight-minute speech gives a window into the ideas of those driving education in this country, which many Common Core critics have disagreed with all along.

First is the central idea of college as a pathway to financial security. Coleman opens with this: “The fact is completing a college degree is the most powerful force in driving against income inequality in this country. Seriously, it is the only technology we have.”

Odd. He seems not to have noticed the research demonstrating that intact families are a far better “technology” for fostering economic opportunity. Also, research typically does not show that getting a college degree automatically makes young people better off. It shows that better off people more often have a college degree. This distinction is significant, and understood by anyone who has ever heard in science class the difference between “correlation” and “causation.” For someone who says he is “obsessed with data,” Coleman is extremely sloppy on this point.

The worst thing about his statement, however, is its assumption that the point of college is money. I’m sure if you asked him this, Coleman would say “of course college is not just about

Broad Foundation names Bruce Reed – Vice-President Joe Biden's chief of staff – its new president | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Broad Foundation names Bruce Reed – Vice-President Joe Biden's chief of staff – its new president | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Broad Foundation names Bruce Reed – Vice-President Joe Biden's chief of staff – its new president

Mary Plummer | November 13th, 2013, 2:21pm

Courtesy The White House

Bruce Reed, Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff, has been named the new president of the Broad Foundation.

The Broad Foundation is changing its leadership structure – Bruce Reed is leaving the Obama administration to become president of the education reform organization based in Los Angeles. Reed has been Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff since January 2011.

The announcement of the new position came Wednesday morning.

In a statement, Reed praised the founders of the foundation – billionaire Eli Broad and his wife Edythe Broad – for their visionary philanthropy.

"No one is more committed to improving our public schools," Reed said. "And their generosity is matched by their focus on making the world a better place."

The hunt for a president has been underway for about a year, according to a Karen Denne, chief communications officer for The Broad Foundation. Eli Broad will now add chairman to his title at the organization, which began making education investments in 1999.

Since that time, the foundation has put more than $580 million toward improving schools nationwide.

"The team can't wait until he comes on board," Denne said. "He's really bringing new

AFT chief Randi Weingarten fights hedge funds on pensions

AFT chief Randi Weingarten fights hedge funds on pensions:

Teachers union fights hedge funds on pensions

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Published: Wednesday, 13 Nov 2013 | 1:02 PM ET

By: Matthew J. Belvedere | Producer, CNBC's "Squawk Box"

Sad Loeb wouldn't meet pension trustees: Weingarten

Wednesday, 13 Nov 2013 | 8:49 AM ET

Discussing whether pension funds should invest in funds like Dan Loeb's Third Point, with American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten. She explains why Loeb had trouble with being transparent.

The American Federation of Teachers union is taking on Third Point's Dan Loeb and other big hedge fund managers over pensions.

"What we said to Dan Loeb and other investment managers is that transparency counts," AFT President Randi Weingarten told CNBC on Wednesday.

She was echoing the sentiments of an AFT report titled "Ranking Asset Managers," in which the union wrote: "Many of the organizations attacking defined benefit [pension] plans are funded by hedge fund and private equity managers."

The AFT put together what it called an "Investment Manager Watch List." The union's list consisted of money managers who it claimed "contributed to, or sit on the governing board of, an organization that advocates for the replacement of defined

Mother Crusader: Diane Ravitch Is Public (Charter) Enemy Number One; or How Public Money Just Keeps On Feeding Private Greed

Mother Crusader: Diane Ravitch Is Public (Charter) Enemy Number One; or How Public Money Just Keeps On Feeding Private Greed:

Diane Ravitch Is Public (Charter) Enemy Number One; or How Public Money Just Keeps On Feeding Private Greed

I literally laughed out loud when I read the woefully misguided attempted take-down of Diane Ravitch in yesterday's Trenton Times.

It was written by charter founder/leader Debbie Pontoriero. I first came across Pontoriero when I helped the good people of Florence Township successfully defeat the expansion of the Riverbank Charter School of Excellence. Riverbank had taken root in Florence before the backlash against boutique suburban charters became vogue.

Pontoriero, who identified herself as Riverbank's School Business Adminstrator (SBA), presented the expansion of Riverbank Charter School of Excellence to the press as a done deal.

Debbie Pontoriero, Riverbank’s business administrator, said the school’s founders are confident that the department will renew the charter and approve the proposed expansion given the school’s high performance record on standardized tests as well as other evaluations.

My, she's awfully cocky, isn't she? What Potoriero didn't factor in was that engaged parents in Florence Township were not about to lose more programs and services for their students to support the expansion of a charter that segregates and divides their community.

She also didn't bet on Florence's State Senator, Diane Allen (who just happens to sit on the Senate Education Committee) sending a letter to Education Commissioner Chris Cerf stating that

Bolstering STEM: A Citywide Call to Action

Bolstering STEM: A Citywide Call to Action:

Bolstering STEM: A Citywide Call to Action

PHILLYACTIVE™ (NEWS THAT GETS PHILLY ACTIVE) The City of Philadelphia Announces Touts Major Efforts to Increase STEM Education, Mentorship for Students.

By Christopher “Flood the Drummer®” Norris

11.12.13: Philadelphia – (Technology/Education): A week before City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson is to host a panel discussion on integrating STEM into early-childhood education, the City of Philadelphia today announced it has been selected as one of thirteen first-round finalists for the US2020 City Competition, a Clinton Global Initiative project that capitalizes on the role of cities as centers for innovation, supporting outstanding efforts to build science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) mentoring capacity at the local level.

Led by Chief Education Officer Lori Shorr – who will serve as a panelist at Councilman Johnson’s event next Tuesday, November 19th, 2013, from 1:30-3:00pm at City Hall, Room 400 – Philadelphia has brought together, with support from the Mayor’s Office of Grants, a strong guiding coalition of partners to enhance and expand STEM-related opportunities for Philadelphia youth – particularly those who are low income, of color and/or female, to provide focused, hands-on mentoring from local STEM professionals.

“In Philadelphia and across the country, there is a critical need for increased participation in STEM related education and fields. Our City has incredible STEM resources available to excite, educate and prepare our young people – especially girls, children of color and children from low-income families,” stated Mayor Michael A. Nutter in a press release. “As a part of our US2020 application, we are bringing together a coalition of STEM partners from colleges and

NYC Educator: In Which I Broaden My Horizons

NYC Educator: In Which I Broaden My Horizons:

In Which I Broaden My Horizons

I'm the chapter leader of a very large school. As a consequence, people complain to me about everything. Why doesn't the faucet work in the ladies' room? How come the kid in my third row hasn't been suspended? Why can't you get us a new contract?

I muddle through as best I can, and I get a little better at it each year. I help everyone I can, and if I can't, I can usually find someone who can. But the questions this year are fundamentally different.

Where has the joy gone? I used to think it was a privilege to have this job and to be able to teach these kids. Now they give me reading lists of things neither I nor anyone in the known universe wants to read. You know, they don't want joy. They want rigor. Who the hell wakes up in the morning and wishes for rigor? Do people other than John King walk around wishing one another a rigorous day?

Teachers come to me and talk of their children. They used to love school. Now they pretend they're sick and don't even want to get out of bed. Should 8-year-old children be behaving like that? My daughter used to read every night. Now she does homework until ten or eleven o' clock and doesn't have time for that. My son can't understand the math in his book. I had to go to his school, pretend he had left something in his desk, and photograph every page of his

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG 11-13-13 Authenticity to Support Common Core Instruction and Assessment — Whole Child Education

Authenticity to Support Common Core Instruction and Assessment — Whole Child Education:

Authenticity to Support Common Core Instruction and Assessment

How do we support our students in being career and college ready? This is not a new question, and educators continually struggle with what that even means. We leverage rigor and relevance as keys to prepare students for the post K–12 world, but what does that look like? What are some practical ways to promote rigor and relevance and target specific Common Core State Standards? One key method, whic

by Andrew Miller / 30min

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG 11-12-13 Common Core: An Educator's Perspective

Common Core: An Educator's Perspective — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGCommon Core: An Educator’s PerspectiveNovember 7, 2013 by Steven WeberIf the state of North Carolina decides to pull the plug on the Common Core State Standards, it will be a slap in the face to the teachers and administrators who have spent countless hours (most on their own time without reimbursement) preparing t

by mike simpson / 6h

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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Nite Cap 11-13-13 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best:

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

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David Coleman Again Demonstrates He Doesn’t Get Education | Truth in American Education

David Coleman Again Demonstrates He Doesn’t Get Education

Broad Foundation names Bruce Reed – Vice-President Joe Biden's chief of staff – its new president | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Broad Foundation names Bruce Reed – Vice-President Joe Biden's chief of staff – its new president

Courtesy The White House

AFT chief Randi Weingarten fights hedge funds on pensions

Teachers union fights hedge funds on pensions

Mother Crusader: Diane Ravitch Is Public (Charter) Enemy Number One; or How Public Money Just Keeps On Feeding Private Greed

Diane Ravitch Is Public (Charter) Enemy Number One; or How Public Money Just Keeps On Feeding Private Greed

Bolstering STEM: A Citywide Call to Action

Bolstering STEM: A Citywide Call to Action

PHILLYACTIVE™ (NEWS THAT GETS PHILLY ACTIVE) The City of Philadelphia Announces Touts Major Efforts to Increase STEM Education, Mentorship for Students.

NYC Educator: In Which I Broaden My Horizons

In Which I Broaden My Horizons

THE WHOLE CHILD BLOG 11-13-13 Authenticity to Support Common Core Instruction and Assessment — Whole Child Education

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